- Previous experience of a severe drought inspired Swapnil Shrivastav to set up a company to solve water shortage issues.
- Uravu Labs, Swapnil Shrivastav’s company, has put forward air-to-water systems to solve the water shortage problem.
To deal with water shortages, entrepreneurs like Swapnil Shrivastav and Beth Koigi have established startups and developed innovative air-to-water systems to produce clear water from the atmosphere.
Uravu Labs: Background and technology
A severe drought hit the Indian city of Kozhikode, also known as Calicut, in 2016, when Swapnil Shrivastav was a student there. The drought left he and other local community only with a limited amount of water each day. While he says it’s not uncommon for water supply issues to impact parts of India, it was a tough month for Mr Shrivastav and others in the region. “It was a very humid area; it was unmanageable.” This experience prompted him to set up Uravu Labs, a Bangalore-based startup, creating a system converting air to water by using a liquid desiccant and renewable energy sources. However, while his vision was to supply drinking water to communities facing water shortages, he says it wasn’t financially viable.
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A similar startup
Founded in 2017, Majik Koigi was inspired to start Majik Water after experiencing water scarcity for the first time during a drought when she was studying in Nairobi in 2016. Although many people drank, washed and cooked with water from a nearby river, Koigi says she couldn’t bring herself to drink the contaminated water. As a result, she started looking for other water source ideas and set up a water filter company before developing an air-to-water system. Later, she works with NGOs and humanitarian organisations, as well as being sold in stores.
